Volume
2, Number 5

Rabi` al-Thani, 1418/September, 1997

India and Pakistan Dispute over Kashmir

NEW DELHI - On August 26th India
spurned a U.S. proposal to mediate an end to the Kashmir
border dispute with Pakistan, stating that differences
with Islamabad should be resolved by talks between the
two countries without outside intervention." They
rejected out-of-hand any possibility of a third-party
involvement in settling the brewing border clash.

Indian and Pakistan continue to fire at
each other's troops over a week of hostilities, though
casualties were relatively light according to reports
from both sides.

Pakistan wants Kashmiris to decide in a
U.N.-mandated referendum whether they wish to join
Pakistan or India. India and Pakistan have fought two of
three wars since their common independence from Great
Britain in 1947over Kashmir. Diplomats are scheduled to
meet in mid-September in New Delhi for further peace
talks.

Turkish television recently highlighted
what it said were verbal attacks on Turkeys
secularist founder Kemal Ataturk by Arab students at

al-Azhar, the
leading centre for studying orthodox Ahl as-Sunna
Islam. It is likely that the withdrawal of recognition
for al-Azhar was intentional retaliation for these verbal
attacks.

The powerbase of
Turkeys government, backed by the resolutely
secular, Kemalist-style military, was severely eroded
when Islamists came to power under the leadership of Dr.
Necmettin Erbakan of the now-banned Refah Party. The
government then instituted a dress-code for colleges and
universities which prohibits wearing of Islamic
traditional dress, including head-coverings, for both
women and men. Recently, a large number of Imam-khatib
training schools have been shut down, as the
government tries to shore up its education in secondary
schools.

Thirty Killed in Somalia Fighting

MOGADISHU - Some 30 militiamen were
killed in fighting between rival forces in the Bakol
region of southwest Somalia, radio reports from the area
said August 15th.

Residents of Bakol said in radio
contact with Mogadishu the fighting pitted militiamen
loyal to south Mogadishu leader Hussein Aideed against
the rebel Rahanwein Resistance Army (RRA) on Thursday.
The reports spoke of at least 12 wounded in the clashes.
The RRA has mounted intermittent hit-and-run attacks
against Aideed's forces since they seized the southern
town of Baidoa in September 1995.

Somalia has had no true government
since the overthrow of the late dictator Mohamed Siad
Barre in 1991. Aideed was elected president last year by
supporters but rival faction leaders have rejected the
move and his administration.